This weekend Common People Festival returns to Southampton, bringing a colourful explosion of genres to the cities leafy Common for a two day party.
Brought to you by the brainiacs behind Bestival, Common People returns with its escapist mashup of old school disco, modern DJ’s, 90’s pop and a buffet table full of genres to sink your teeth into. Alongside all the juicy musical offerings, indulge in an assortment of extra treats. Think a gin festival, street food and the actual friggin largest disco ball in the world that you can literally dance in (respect for whoever dreamt that baby up.)
The question is, with such an eclectic lineup, who should you go and see? Here are some of the acts we think are worth checking out.
Wild Front
To get in the mood start off by letting yourself be transported into those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer with Wild Front. This band is from the South Coast but will dazzle you into an 80’s music video montage where you drive a pink cadillac down the Californian coast for no apparent reason. The band write, record, engineer and mix all of the tracks at their home studio. Give ’em a watch and get yourself into the that carefree festival state of mind.
Milk Teeth
British punk will never die. True story. It changes and moves with the times but its rebellious nature is something that will cease be quashed. Milk Teeth have evolved their sound over the years. The rougher grungier edges, akin to Hole, have eased into catchier melodies with a slight indie aftertaste.To top it all off, Becky Blomfield’s vocals have that same sexy husk as Marmozets’ Becca Macintyre. Win.
Dream Wife
Roll up and get your side of bittersweet feminist attitude right here.
Does anyone else remember the Faders? Well Dream Wife are like the wickedly cool younger sister to that all girl pop-rock band that disappeared somewhere in the 00’s (seriously what happened to them?) This Icelandic-Brightonian mix are definitely ones to watch. They reclaim that unapologetically badass feminine-punk spirit the likes of Blondie and The Runaways had, that made every little girl wish they could flip off their teacher for being a dick.
The Sherlocks
If you’re an indie purest, you’ll love The Sherlocks. They are the embodiment of what indie was when indie was good. In the wake of what the hell happened to the Arctic Monkeys (seriously though, now’s not the time) this band will make you breath a sigh of relief that indie doesn’t always have to try and overdo and over complicate. Like a good pizza, it can sometimes be best when kept simple. None of this pineapple crap please.
Hak Baker
Hak Baker does something special. He creates music with the essence of folk combined with an East London attitude. Inspired by his very real upbringing as an Eastender, Baker writes about life, taking you on a head-on journey to honest, unfiltered emotion.
Lily Allen
Headlining the festival on Saturday, Lily Allen should be a guarantee watch.
To be honest, sitting through any song from Sheezus is worth it to hear absolute bangers like LDN and Smile. The tracks from Alright, Still will never age and will remain a lovable explicit ode to how we British deal with heartbreak, annoying little brothers and not being able to eat spaghetti bolognese without getting fat. Allen will be previewing tracks from her upcoming album Shame, including her new track Trigger Bang that features rapper Giggs. Let the nervous anticipation ensue.
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Common People Southampton takes place between 26th-27th May. For the full line-up, further information and tickets, head to the festival website.
Written by: Rebecca Rayner
